Before actually beginning to write anything about the topic, let us just focus upon the following patches of news:

·       A local court in Parli of Maharashtra's Beed district has issued a non-bailable warrant against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for failing to appear before it in a 2008 case registered against him.[1]

·       CBI special court has issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer Y Srilakshmi in CM YS Jagan’s disproportionate cases.[2]

·       Sonakshi Sinha has reportedly landed in a legal trouble after a non bailable warrant has been issued against her in a fraud case.[3]

In all of the above patches of Newsprints, the one very common term is “Non-Bailable Warrant”. However, in all the three cases, the reasons behind issuance of Non-Bailable Warrants (NBWs) are different. In such a scenario, it is pertinent to understand the nature of NBWs, when can they be issued and by whom can they be issued.

A layman will normally interpret an NBW to be a warrant issued in Non-Bailable cases. However, NBWs are a part of the processes used to compel one’s appearance before the Court. The term “non-bailable” doesn’t literally mean as not being bailable at all. It merely means that the bail in these cases is entirely conditional upon the Court’s decision. In bailable cases, it is the right of the accused person to seek bail without having to move to the Court.

It is well settled principle that the Court normally issues summons and does not issue non-bailable warrant simultaneously but it can do so if it has a reason to believe that the accused has absconded and/or will not obey the summons but Non­bailable warrant should be issued to bring a person to court when summons or bailable warrants would be unlikely to have the desired result.[4] Sections 70-81 of the Code of Criminal Procedure talk about issuance of warrants for the appearance of a person whereas Sections 93-98 talk about warrants to be issued for production of things or documents. Section 71 particularly refers to a Bailable Warrant wherein a warrant is issued with an endorsement that if the arrested person executes a bond with sufficient sureties, he may be released on furnishing security. Non-Bailable Warrant, on the other hand, is a warrant which lacks such a condition of any bond. In case of a Non-Bailable Warrant, there is no escaping appearance before the Court and NBWs can be issued by any Magistrate who finds it necessary to do so whenever there is a presumption that the person needs to be put under a coercive force in order to appear before the Court.